Social network Facebook to sell a total of 70m shares

Facebook has priced a secondary offering of its stock at $55.05 a share in a deal that will generate a $2.3bn windfall for chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

The terms are just slightly below the $55.12 closing price of Facebook's shares on Friday. The stock has climbed well above the $38 price set in Facebook's initial public offering 19 months ago.

This time around a total of 70m Facebook shares are being sold.

Of those, Mr Zuckerberg is selling more than 41m shares, primarily to cover taxes due to exercising his option to buy 60m Facebook shares that carry more voting power. He will remain Facebook's controlling stockholder after the sale.